Michał Piekarski (; before 1597 – 27 November 1620), also known as Michael Piekarski, was a Polish petty nobleman and landowner, who attempted to assassinate King

Sigismund III Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Relig ...

in 1620.

Biography

Michał Piekarski, the son of Stanisław, as a child was involved in an accident during which he severely injured his head and began to suffer mentally. He was often described as an impetuous

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

and an eccentric man. As the illness systematically progressed, Piekarski was temporarily isolated and forbidden from rightfully managing his estates at Binkowice in southeastern Poland where he was most likely born. In May 1610, when king

Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

was successfully assassinated by

François Ravaillac François Ravaillac (; 1578 – 27 May 1610) was a French Catholic who assassinated King Henry IV of France in 1610. Biography Early life and education Ravaillac was born in 1578 at Angoulême to an educated family; his grandfather François ...

, Piekarski, then still a young man, decided to kill Sigismund III of Poland. He eagerly waited and prepared for almost 10 years before attempting it. He was also drawn towards assassinating the monarch by the failed Zebrzydowski Rebellion, which was organised by the nobility against Sigismund. Throughout his life Piekarski remained a pious

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

. All Protestants and Calvin followers became targeted by Sigismund and the Catholic Church during the

Counter-Reformation in Poland The Counter-Reformation in Poland () was the response (Counter-Reformation) of Catholic Church in Poland (more precisely, the Kingdom of Poland until 1568, and thereafter the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) to the spread of Protestantism in Pola ...

. Rumours circulated that it was the Radziwiłł

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

family who played a pivotal role in attempting to murder the king due to religious persecution and their fervent support for Protestantism. These claims, however, were never verified.

Assassination attempt

The attack occurred on 15 November 1620 at approximately 9:00 in the morning when Sigismund was to attend

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

at Saint John's Cathedral in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. The king and a few other members of court as well as guards were walking in a small royal procession to the cathedral from the Royal Castle, which was connected to the temple by a narrow passage, usually unavailable for local townsfolk. Other sources claim that the king was only accompanied by a few men or advisers, and that the manner in which they were to attend mass was casual. When the

cortege Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Eng ...

approached the end of the corridor, Piekarski leaped out and stabbed the monarch twice using a ''czekan'' (light war axe), firstly in the back and then in the cheek, and striking him in the arm. He was overpowered by either the guards or Court Marshal Łukasz Opaliński, who also shielded Sigismund. Some historians question the presence of any guards in the procession. The perpetrator was also hit in the skull with a

sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

by Prince Władysław, which allowed him to be captured and held down. The assassination attempt quickly became a major event; chaos erupted when false rumours spread that the king had been murdered as his clothes were stained in blood. Initially, the local townspeople thought that the city was being invaded by the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

Execution

On 20 November, the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

(Parliament) presented a verdict sentencing Piekarski to death without trial. The main charge was attempted

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

, which Piekarski did not deny. He was not fond of the king and blatantly offended the Court Marshal and the noble jury. The Parliament ordered the confiscation of his estates; the repugnance of the magnates towards Piekarski was so great that his native village of Binkowice was to be sacked and burned to the ground. It was later spared and the estates were given to a noble who had aided Sigismund during the assassination. The execution took place on 27 November and an executioner was brought in for the occasion from

Drohiczyn Drohiczyn () (, ) is a town in Siemiatycze County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. The town has a population of 2,110 and is situated on the bank of the Bug River. Drohiczyn has a long and rich history, as in the past it was one of the most impo ...

. Per sentence, Piekarski was driven around Warsaw and his body was slowly torn up with heated

pliers Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consi ...

while he was still alive on the cart. He was then placed on a platform situated in an area called ''Piekiełko'' (Devil's Den) near the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

where his right hand was cut off and incinerated. Towards the end of his tortures Piekarski was tied by his legs and arms and

dismembered Dismemberment is the act of completely disconnecting and/or removing the limbs, skin, and/or organs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with regicid ...

by horses.

Legacy

A popular

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

saying "", roughly translated as 'to blather like Piekarski during torture', surfaced shortly before Piekarski's execution when he confessed his sins in an unorderly, confusing and lifeless manner. The expression is still used in modern Polish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piekarski, Michał Polish criminals 1620 deaths People executed by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth People executed by dismemberment Executed assassins Year of birth uncertain People from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth